Key points

• Melania producer Marc Beckman said that members of Guns N’ Roses are “split down the middle politically,” which stopped the film from using the band’s music.

• Beckman also said that Grace Jones “couldn’t get over the political hurdle” of the first lady documentary.

• The producer also said that the Prince estate rejected a bid to license one of his songs.

Melania‘s soundtrack has been the subject of some controversy — and now, one of the film’s producers says that the project didn’t land all of the songs that the creative team wanted.

Marc Beckman, who produced the documentary film and serves as an advisor to Melania Trump, told Variety that several prominent artists rejected requests to use their songs in the movie.

“There was music that we tried to get, but sadly, there were politics to it,” the producer said. “For example, the guys from Guns N’ Roses split down the middle politically. There was a beautiful song we wanted to use, and one of the guys — I don’t want to name, it’s not fair —said, ‘You got it. Go.’ And the other one was basically like, ‘There’s just no way.'”

Unfortunately for the film, the band required that every one of its members approve the request, so the split decision meant that the GNR song was a no-go. “So Guns N’ Roses was definitely a disappointment for us; we all have a lot of respect for Guns N’ Roses,” Beckman said.

Representatives for Guns N’ Roses did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment.

<ʙuттon class="group absolute bottom-0 size-full" aria-label="View larger image" data-ylk="elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="1">

The producer also said that another ’80s icon turned down the soundtrack request for political reasons.

“There was a song that we wanted to use from Grace Jones; obviously, also a tremendous amount of respect for her,” Beckman said. “She apparently couldn’t get over the political hurdle, notwithstanding the fact that the film is not a political film. So that was disappointing, too. It’s disappointing when people put politics so far ahead, and that happened a little bit with the film, for sure.”

Representatives for Jones did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

Beckman also claimed that the film came close to landing the rights to a Prince track, but the late musician’s estate swooped in and blocked the bid at the last minute.

“We were ready to go, and this lawyer that manages the estate was like, ‘Prince would never want his song ᴀssociated with Donald Trump,'” he recalled. “And we’re like, ‘But it’s not a Donald Trump film! He comes into the movie once in a while, but this is all about Melania. It’s not political.’ And that guy blocked it. It’s so ridiculous.”

Representatives for Prince’s estate did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

<ʙuттon class="group absolute bottom-0 size-full" aria-label="View larger image" data-ylk="elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="1">

Melania‘s soundtrack previously made waves after Radiohead musician Jonny Greenwood and filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson released a statement condemning the documentary’s use of a soundtrack cue from their 2017 film Phantom Thread.

Beckman responded to their statement (again) in his interview with Variety. “It’s funny — Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite bands. For them to have come out publicly and distanced themselves, I think that’s just part of the unfortunate time we’re living in,” he said. “We went out and created a nice film that doesn’t get into any kind of political policy or anything like that. The music at that moment is so perfect, honestly, I was so thrilled to be able to use it.”

He continued, “If they’re trying to distance themselves from us, for political reasons, that’s just unfortunate. But, honestly, I’ll still remain a fan and listen to their music every single day.”

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

Melania follows the First Lady in the 20 days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration in early 2025. The film, which marks the first directorial work from Brett Ratner since multiple women accused him of Sєxual ᴀssault in 2017 (which Ratner has denied), has made approximately $16 million worldwide to date. Amazon MGM paid $75 million to acquire and promote the project.